No Laughter Here
By Rita Williams-Garcia

How do you write a young adult book about a subject that makes even adults want to leave the room during a “20/20” broadcast? If you’re Coretta Scott King Honor author, Rita Williams-Garcia, you do it in a way that will give mothers something to talk about with their daughters.

Akilah Hunter, who is as persistent as her last name and as bright as her first name, which means “intelligent,” loves to talk to her mother over ice tea in the backyard. She’s not too eager to have The Talk about menstruating, especially since she misses her best friend Victoria Ojike. Queenly Victoria has gone to Nigeria over the summer to visit her family’s roots, but when Victoria comes home, she seems to be singing the tune “I Left My Heart in Nigeria.”

If brainy Victoria ever would sing anymore, or laugh. Akilah worries what she’s done to upset her friend. She doesn’t have time to deal with pesky Juwan Spencer, who displays all of the signs of macho male infatuation such as throwing Milk Duds at Akilah. It’s a rare moment of laughter in a book that pointedly states there is “No Laughter Here.”

In America we worry our kids are growing up too fast, with too many weighty issues bombarding them. However, other countries (such as rural India, where teenagers become second wives to 50-year-old brutes) don’t share our definition of protecting children. And as writer Piers Anthony once observed, are as secure in their convictions as we are in ours.

While there’s the token multicultural apology for Victoria’s shocking secret, there’s plenty of indignation, with Akilah and her mother leading the pack. This isn’t a story of “adults bad, kids good.” There’s a lovely thread through the book that explores Akilah’s relationship with her mother. Any mother, after reading this book, will want to hug her daughter close. Yet there’s no sense of avoiding womanhood in its proper time. Akilah menstruates, investigates, and takes on the very adult role of righting the injustice done to her friend. No Laughter Here, like Akilah, sparkles with intelligence and courage.